LATEST RELEASES: Angus Stone is flying solo once again, with his own brand of laidback folk on Broken Brights.

ANGUS STONE - BROKEN BRIGHTS (DESERT HARVEST RECORDS/EMI)

THE last album Stone made without sister Julia contained a little tune called Big Jet Plane, later remade with the added sibling.

Fresh from Julia's glossy album (and makeover to match), Angus carries on making his Neil Young-style stoner folk.

It's unsurprisingly ultra-laidback with some occasional surprises: raucous fiddle on River Love, whistles and handclaps in Wooden Chair, surf guitar and recorder on The Blue Door and some welcome menace on It Was Blue.

You can also hear big nods to Stones' record collection - Fleetwood Mac on Bird on the Buffalo, Bob Dylan on Apprentice of the Rocketman and Only a Woman and The Verve in End of the World. And if the Wiggles are ever after for a Unabomber lookalike in a tie-dyed skivvy to scare the kids the sweet The Wolf and the Butler could be his in.

Sounds like: a campfire at a hippy commune.

In a word: herbal

Rating: 3/5

By Cameron Adams

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HUNTING GROUNDS - IN HINDSIGHT (RED CAT SOUNDS/MGM)

KIDS sure do grow up fast. Superbly cheekboned Ballarat sextet Hunting Grounds sounded too starchy (like their white collars) at Golden Plains this year, not quite up to the challenge of opening a festival. But on their debut the lads show us they have the pop smarts of Cut Copy, the right guitar angles of Last Dinosaurs and the indielectualism of bands like Bloc Party at their prime. The tri-vocal attack largely works, each barely-formed voice a tonic from the other. Single Flaws has its its strengths and it's flaws (sorry) and they're clearly growing up in public. The next album will see them graduate/coagulate.

In a word: keen

Rating: 3.5/5

By Mikey Cahill

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COSMO JARVIS - THINK BIGGER (CREATIVE VIBES)

ALREADY on his third album at age 22, Brit Cosmo Jarvis is a box ticker. He sweats terrifically twisted pop tunes and has a refreshing did-he-say-that way with words. He thinks visual as well, from smart, attention-clamping music videos to the film he's just written and directed The Naughty Room.

Think Bigger boasts his usual genre orgy approach, held together by charm and swagger. Train Downtown is a sweet pop tune until the death metal exorcism it undergoes three minutes in. Jarvis bemoans "prison bait" on the cotton pickin' country of Friend of the Devil and swings with ease from quaint ditty Lacie to the ragged glory of Good Citizen.

Beguiling single Love This would sound great on commercial radio, and not just for hearing an unexpected shout out to Tony Soprano between Pitbull and Katy Perry dreck.

Sounds like: low attention span rock.

In a word: endearing

Rating: 3.5/5

By Cameron Adams

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SOPHIE KOH - OH MY GARDEN (CRYING NINJA/MGM)

LET me make this simple for you using five words: "Ben Lee co-wrote four songs." See, you've already judged Koh's third album by the involvement of the precocious one, you've had a reaction mostly positive or negative, not many of you will still be on the fence. On one hand, this album is a pretty collection of electronic-folk-pop songs designed for the next Virgin Active Health Club ad, on the other it's an album that only so often gets to the nitty gritty on the lower register of I Understand and Doll's House. It mostly delves into pedestrian territory of Lo-Fi with Lee-endorsed lyrics: "Oh I'm feeling inspired, I need it, I'm on it, Oh I'm feeling that fire."

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